A booming form of online writing is the “keyword article”, also known as “SEO writing” or “SEO articles”. The idea is that people with websites on whatever topics (and usually selling whatever product) are always looking for ways to improve their search engine rankings. Everyone wants to be at the top of the list on Google or Yahoo!. But websites filled with products aren’t usually that successful. Because they lack content. You need lots of words and text for search engines to really sink their teeth into, so product-sellers are always on the lookout for articles that they can add to their sites with minimal effort.

And that is where you, the online writer comes in.

You don’t usually find this kind of work directly from the person who needs the articles. There are many (MANY) brokers out there who provide online content, and they are always on the look out for people to do this writing for them. These companies are forever posting on freelance job boards, and you will quickly come to recognize them.

The deal with doing keyword work is volume and turn-around. You will often be required to do 10-20 articles at at time, with sometimes only 24 hours to get the work completed. It’s alot like high-pressure assembly line work. Personally, I find it grating on my spirit to churn out work like this. Especially since quality isn’t really the goal. The goal is to fit in the given keywords as many times as possible in a fairly short piece (usually between 200-500 words, sometimes shorter).

It’s mass production at its finest. Write fast, write lots, and don’t worry about writing well. Oh, and you won’t get paid all that well either. Most keyword articles go for $2-$5 each. Which CAN add up if you get enough work, and the companies will insist that they have more work than they can handle.

But don’t get your hopes up. I have done keyword work in the past, and have worked for about 4 different people in the process. Not one has lasted more than 2 or 3 batches of assignments. They just disappear, and stop giving me work.

So, this is certainly a legit field of online writing, but on the same scale as a sweat-shop making poor quality handbags. It can fill in the gaps for you when you need a quick buck, but you’re not likely going to make a decent living at it.

Oh, and don’t take on this kind of work as a way to build some clips or reputation. They will buy all rights and you are not allowed to claim the work as your own. Technically, you are ghost-writing these articles and you will never see a byline.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Online Writing 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.